Insights: How Villeroy & Boch uses Social Media

Around three billion people worldwide are online — and every day, one in two of them uses Facebook, one in three uses YouTube and one in eight uses Instagram. Social media channels are booming. And they provide an excellent platform for companies, brands and products to present themselves. For Villeroy & Boch, the social web is one of the main ways of reaching a target group that includes young international users and encouraging interaction.

Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest and WeChat: Amongst others Villeroy & Boch is present on those of the world’s most popular social media channels so that it can actively engage with its large international fan community. Depending on which campaigns are in progress, a total of around 100 pieces of Villeroy & Boch content are published every week, reaching a potential audience of some 990,000 persons and receiving around 18,000 likes, shares or comments on average. A big community that enjoys engaging with Villeroy & Boch and that wants to be kept up-to-date about new developments, photos of the company’s top collections and informative videos.

Villeroy & Boch’s social media presence is intended to inspire and enthuse new fans — and, above all, to encourage online communication with the company. “Our aim is to prompt people to enter into a dialogue with us. On the World Wide Web, content is spread and multiplied extremely quickly,” explains Rudi Bedy, Head of Social Media Marketing at Villeroy & Boch. What drives the platforms and makes them something special is the viral spread of content and direct and open dialogue between the company and its fans — all in real time. “Our target response time is no more than 24 hours. Posts and questions are answered within this timeframe, and usually sooner — even at the weekend,” adds Bedy.

Every social platform uses different forms of presentation and communication: “It always depends on the content we are presenting, what we are trying to achieve and the target groups we want to reach. And it is important for us to select the right channels for the respective marketing and communication strategies,” Bedy notes. For the “Bathroom Poetry” online campaign, which was launched by the Bathroom and Wellness Division in 2015, the ideal social media platform was clear from the start: YouTube. Villeroy & Boch used its own channel on the world’s largest video portal to present videos on different collections and styles, including interviews with supermodel Tatjana Patitz, the designers of Kaviar Gauche and designer Kilian Kerner. The campaign achieved its goal of reaching and inspiring as many YouTube users as possible: in total, the Bathroom Poetry videos had around 871,000 views.

Rudi BedyHead of Social Media at Villeroy & Boch

Rudi Bedy is the Head of Social Media Marketing at Villeroy & Boch. Together with his team, he designs the company’s social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others.

Jessika RauchGlobal PR Manager at Villeroy & Boch

Jessika Rauch is responsible for blogger relations in her role as Global PR Manager in the Tableware Division.

Alongside consumers, plumbers, architects and designers are an important target group for Villeroy & Boch. The Bathroom and Wellness Division therefore also used the company’s YouTube channel to present the “In 60 seconds” videos, for example, in which product managers explain the uses, benefits and new features of selected products in German and English in just 60 seconds.

Social platforms are also home to bloggers, many of whom can boast follower numbers in the six digits. “Bloggers are increasingly becoming the opinion leaders worldwide. Their fans are stylish and trend-conscious — and an important target group for the Villeroy & Boch brand. We work in cooperation with popular blogs dedicated to food, interiors, design and gift ideas to bring our brand and our new products to a younger, trend-aware and style-conscious audience. Bloggers are brand ambassadors with the ability to shape the views of those who literally ‘follow’ them,” explains Jessika Rauch, who is responsible for blogger relations in her role as Global PR-Manager in the Tableware Division.

The cooperation between companies and successful international bloggers is flourishing, taking in blog carnivals where numerous bloggers write about the same topic, blog partnerships with product presentations in picture and written form, meetings with successful interior design bloggers, and blogger events at which specific products are presented.

One particular success in 2015 was the global blogger campaign “Festive Table Styles Around the World”, which took place during the festive season from October to December. The five participating bloggers from Germany, the UK, the USA, Australia and Dubai were given the task of designing a table for a festive dinner with friends and family using Villeroy & Boch tableware. During the campaign, they challenged their readers and their around 765,000 (!) Instagram followers to arrange a festive dinner of their own and post pictures using the hashtag #inspiredbyVB, which was also the aim of the engagement campaign: to motivate as many people as possible to participate and interact by commenting and liking. The hashtag also directly addressed the around 36,000 people who follow Villeroy & Boch on Instagram. More than 11,000 people accepted the challenge and visited the website that was specially designed for the campaign. The online campaign was accompanied by festive decorations, tables and shop windows at House of Villeroy & Boch stores.

“Instagram is a rapidly growing platform with more than 400 million users worldwide. While Facebook combines text and images and Twitter uses short text messages, Instagram is all about the visual impact of the image. Telling stories creatively in picture form and stirring up emotions is one of the defining features of the platform, and one of the reasons why we used Instagram for our ‘Festive Table Styles’ campaign”, explains Bedy.

VILLEROY & BOCH IN AN INTERVIEW WITH AMANDA SAIONTZ GLUCK FROM FASHIONABLE HOSTESS

The American Amanda Saiontz Gluck is an internationally successful blogger. The blog FashionableHostess.com of the Decor Expert, Party Stylist, and Lifestyle Blogger is read by 26,000 fans per month, 64,000 follow her on Instagram. She knows not only the world of bloggers; she also has a special relationship to the brand of Villeroy & Boch through her participation in the Festive Table Styles Around the World campaign.

When working together with brands, what is most important to you for a good cooperation?

I am always sure to partner with brands I love, whether it’s aesthetic, style, or price, I always take these all into account! What I particularly like about Villeroy & Boch is the high quality and unique design of the collections — La Classica Contura was ideal for my festive dinner at the table styles campaign: a stylish, elegant décor with fine lines.

What did you like about the Festive Table Styles campaign from Villeroy & Boch?

I love that it allows a glimpse into people’s homes around the world. I am always taking in new ideas and inspirations, so this has been a fun way to see endless gorgeous tables.

Who reads your blog?

Women who love to entertain in their home for family and friends. They are predominately newlyweds and new mothers.

Amanda Saiontz Gluck Blogger at FASHIONABLE HOSTESS

This article was published in the Insights Magazine, The Magazine Supplement to the Annual Report 2015 of Villeroy & Boch AG.